1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a terminal device including multiple logical ports as ports for providing logical connections to logically connect external devices to the terminal device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Heretofore, there has been known an external device connectable to a terminal device, such as a PC, through an interface, such as a USB. The terminal device and the external device are connected to each other by a physical connection to connect the devices physically and a logical connection to connect the devices logically. The physical connection means that the terminal device and the external device are connected physically by a cable. The logical connection means that the terminal device and the external device are connected logically through recognition of the external device by the terminal device.
Here, a state in which the logical connection between the terminal device and the external device is activated is referred to as an “activated state.” On the other hand, a state in which the logical connection between the terminal device and the external device is deactivated is referred to as a “deactivated state.” In addition, a process of transition from the deactivated state to the activated state is referred to as a “mount process.” On the other hand, a process of transition from the activated state to the deactivated state is referred to as an “unmount process.”
In general, the terminal device, such as a PC, includes a graphical user interface (GUI) which uses images shown on a display. The unmount process described above is performed by using the GUI.
In addition, as a technique of facilitating the unmount process, there has been known a technique of providing an external device with a removal button with which an instruction to execute the unmount process is issued to the terminal device through the external device (see Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2007-4251, for example).
Meanwhile, if an external device having no removal button is connected to the terminal device, the unmount process still needs to be performed by using the GUI.
If consideration is given to a situation where an external device having no removal button is connected to a terminal device, there has yet to be a technique that sufficiently facilitates the unmount process.